When Rohit Shetty steps on the set of any of his movies, he rips off (or, perhaps, more gently removes) his day clothes and slips on his Superman cape. We aren’t saying this. He does. Before you peg him as “typically Bollywood arrogant”, listen to why he likens himself to the original superhero. Shetty, 40, isn’t in this for his 15 minutes of fame. “I don’t react to anything—success or criticism. I’ve trained myself over the years to have zero reactions,” he says.
He comes, does his bit and goes back to his own world. At the end of every day, the saviour of the box office goes home as Clark Kent.
Censured by critics and devoured by middle-class audiences quite unfailingly for a decade, Shetty is B-town’s most sought-after director today with A-list producers and actors vying to work with him. According to Forbes India estimates, he is the highest paid as well.
Following the record-breaking success of Chennai Express, a film that gave a fresh lease of life to actor Shah Rukh Khan’s career, Shetty has retired to the solitude of his plush office in suburban Mumbai to get on with his tenth film in as many years. You start anew with every film, he says. Only three months after delivering his seventh successive hit, the workaholic Shetty is browsing through the 150th draft of his next project Singham 2.
For a man whose films are ostentatious, there’s a certain understated air about his personality. He’s usually unfazed by bouquets and brickbats and this is sometimes misconstrued as arrogance. He doesn’t read newspapers. He doesn’t keep track of his films’ earnings. He doesn’t tune into speculations. He doesn’t attend parties or premieres. “I don’t focus my energy on these things because in our business you will always be remembered by the last Friday,” says Shetty who has few interests beyond films (he likes his sports cars and flashy tattoos).
Despite his matter-of-fact attitude, he savours special calls like the one he received from Rajinikanth after Singham. “I couldn’t believe it. He said he loved my film. It was one of the high points of my career,” says Shetty.
It is a career that is dotted with several highs. The only filmmaker, since Manmohan Desai in the ’70s-80s, to give seven mammoth hits in a row, Shetty is now synonymous with box-office glory. Touted as the “president of the Rs 100-crore club” and a director who is “critic-proof”, Shetty attributes his success to his instincts about the audience.
He has an ear to the ground and is acquainted with the trials and tribulations of lower-middle-class families and their desire for “a few good laughs” and nothing more. “We’re not Hollywood; travel 100 kilometres from Mumbai and the audience is not the same,” he says. “My critics go to Starbucks, read the news, interact with like-minded people and think that is the end of India. They do have a taste and a sensibility but the world is not them. The world is my audience.”
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Shetty’s early life is inseparable from what he is today, and the connection that he stitches with the audience is a result of that.
Son of legendary fight master and villain MB Shetty (popularly known as Fighter Shetty), he decided very early that he would join the film industry “to be like my father”. But calamity struck when he was 11; his father died, leaving behind a family of four. With no money for rent, the Shettys moved to the far-northern suburb of Dahisar (“almost a village then”) to live with Rohit’s grandmother. His mother took up work as a junior artiste at Natraj Studios in Andheri (the film hub) while Shetty boarded a Virar local every morning to get to his school (St Mary’s High) in Santa Cruz. Later, when they moved to Malad, he would walk two hours to Natraj when he ran out of conveyance money.
“It was a culture shock because when I was born we had everything. My father was the biggest and the most popular action director of that time,” Shetty says. “We had seen the glamour, glory and money. And then everything just vanished.”
When he was in the tenth standard, he started working as an assistant director with Kuku Kohli who was making Phool Aur Kaante. That was 1991 and he was 16. “I quit studies because we didn’t have money for my college fees,” he says. Does he regret that decision? “I wouldn’t encourage that. Education is very important. When I see films like Rang De Basanti or 3 Idiots, I feel I am not educated enough and will never be able to make such films,” he says wistfully.
Golmaal was followed by Golmaal Returns (2008)—which Shetty calls his “most mediocre work till date”—All the Best: Fun Begins (2009) and Golmaal 3 (2010) which catapulted him to the coveted Rs 100-crore club. With soaring success came equal-part fanfare and flak. While audiences lapped up his films, critics dismissed them as “insufferable” and “more than nonsensical”. The hackneyed phrase "mindless entertainment" came to define his oeuvre. Shetty says, “When you have given a hit, people want to work with you. But critics still pan you. They don’t realise if you get into an Udupi restaurant, you won’t get pasta there.”
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(This story appears in the 27 December, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
top directr of hindi cinema rohit setty. vry nice article.Upcoming movie #dilwale will b a superhit
on Nov 20, 2015U n your family have stuggled alot my mom use to tell me. ROHIT uncle I wish too meet u. Now u r big man. U came wid ur mom to meet us.. when my dad died. That time I was not there..... :(.... I wish we could meet up..God bless u.. keeping rocking.... CHeers;)
on Apr 12, 2014Very thoughtful piece, a product of an obviously comprehensive interview. Interesting contrast to the mindless entertainment that the director specialises in, indicating that there is definitely a method to the madness.
on Dec 30, 2013Hello dear Ikra. I really liked your reply. You really seem to be a very very very very very very big fan of Rohit ji. I am also of your type dear. Even I respect him a lot. He is so simple, so humble, so honest, that it is but natural to fall in love with such a person. I love his simplicity. I really wish I can be even one tenth of what he is. But I can never be because it is the most 'difficult' thing to be 'simple'. I also liked what Arindam said -"But he is not a fool to make so many films like this." Finally someone has understood this that even he(Rohit ji) has got some common sense and he knows it very well what he is doing. The only thing we have to do is to have faith in is callibre. As far as the critics are concerned, he can also make films for critics whenever he want, but such kind of films may not be liked by the commoners and may not earn commercial success. But even that doesn't mean that he is more a' businessman' than a 'director'. The only thing that bothers him is that if his film doesn't do well on box office, then what he will pay to his workers (or rightly saying 'his TEAM, his FIGHTERS') . He has to think about his whole team, that is the only reason behind making back to back hard core commercial films. So lets not call him a 'businessman' dear Zurich. One more thing - People call his films brainless entertainers. Guys trust me, using brains and intellect never create humour. It is always NONSENSENESS that creates humour.So next time anyone calls his films brainless entertainers, just think at the back of your mind, have you ever enjoyed a seriously intellectual film, as much, as you enjoyed watching Golmaal 3, Singham or Bolbachchan.
on Dec 30, 2013Really liked your reply Ikra. You seem to be a very very very very big fan of Rohit ji.
on Dec 30, 2013It is very easy for critics to pan films. But what Rohit Shetty has done in an industry that sees more flops than hits is creditworthy.Glad this article brings that out.Brilliant profile!
on Dec 29, 2013Love This Article!! :) Im Rohit\'s BIGGEST Fan/Supporter/Admirer Whatever You Call it And I Feel Happiest To Read This..He Deserves All The Love And Praise, Despite The Fact Critics Bash His Films, Even I Don\'t Care About CRITICS Anymore, Rohit Films Are Entertaining And Made From The Heart And With A LOT Of Hard-work. But There\'s A Little Mistake, Rohit Didn\'t See The DVD Of SINGHAM During Bol Bachchan Infact It Was During GOLMAAL 3 Promotions Rohit Saw SINGAM (Tamil) And SINGHAM Was Made And Released in 2011 And Bol Bachchan Was Released in 2012, So You\'ve Gotten Muddled Up There..Loved The Rest Of The Article Though :)
on Dec 27, 2013Thank you for the enthusiastic feedback, Ikra! But you stand corrected. Not sure what you\'ve read in the press earlier, but Rohit told Forbes India in a one-on-one chat that he had planned \"Bol Bachchan\" and started shooting it much before \"Singham\" happened. One afternoon when he was waiting for his Bol Bachchan crew (as mentioned in the story) and had nothing better to do, he happened to pick up the DVD of Singam (Tamil film) which was lying his office for 3 months. He liked the film so much that he instinctively wanted to remake it. He stalled the shooting of Bol Bachchan and finished Singham in 4 months flat. Singham released in 2011. And post that, Rohit resumed work on Bol Bachchan which released a year late. Also for your interest, Chennai Express was a script that was with Rohit since 2008. For some reason or the other, it never got made until 2013. So, nothing got muddled up actually. I\'m sure you can trust this magazine when it comes to facts especially when they come from the horse\'s mouth! :-)
on Dec 27, 2013Wow, Thats Confusing As Rohit Himself Said it in A Interview With Komal Nahta, Maybe He Forgot Himself. Lol. And The Video is On Youtube.. As Far As I Know Bol Bachchan Started September 2011..Just Before He Got Busy With SINGHAM Shoot He Was Judging Comedy Circus And in Feb 2011 He Told KRUSHNA He Has Role For Him in The Film, If The Film Was Half Shot Why Did He Tell Krushna That Then? Singham Took About 80 Days To Get Made..They Started On March 4th.. Rohit Himself is Telling Two Sides To The Story, Guess He Just Has Too Much On His Mind.. :-P Thanks For Your Reply Though! :)
on Dec 30, 2013It\'s really not his fault, but it is sad that as the years go by, Indian cinema is regressing. It is always easier to give an audience what they want, and making mindless entertainment is mostly what he delivers. Yes, he\'s good at that, but rather than calling him a \'director\', let\'s just call him a successful businessman?
on Dec 26, 2013Great article on a humble man
on Dec 22, 2013Rarely I read such an article about a \'commoner\' in the industry. Had never looked up to him or his movies in a respectable manner. Maybe time has come to change my views about him. This could have make better cover story, in my opinion. The struggle from being a son of \'stuntman\' (as everyone depicts back here), to being the president of 100cr club - the term very aptly put here. The journey is brilliantly put here. Only thing I disagree here is - his comedies are always family friendly. Not always. Though Bol Bachchan, recently, took me to sweet surprise. And then Chennai Express happened. Have read somewhere, he is now thinking over a Romance. Looking at CE\'s super chemistry, should be fiery !
on Dec 22, 2013Superb article. I like Singham and Zameen, shetty\'s best films.Reviewers bash him up for everything. But he is not a fool to make so many films like this. This article is rare and shows Rohit\'s mind. Very good
on Dec 21, 2013Not a fan of the man, but definitely enjoyed reading this. The directors of mainstream movies are rarely brought into focus with the 'stars' always hogging the limelight.
on Dec 20, 2013